After violent encounter, victim helps police nab home invader

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A northeast Albuquerque resident woke up Monday morning face to face with an armed intruder, but this robbery ends a little differently than most.

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The suspect, 32-year-old Paul Garcia, first allegedly threatened that man inside the home before taking off with a bunch of his stuff. The victim, Alec Riley, said he followed him outside, waved down an officer and helped catch him.

Riley said he was fast asleep around 8:30 a.m. Monday when he heard the sound of items shuffling on his TV stand. He opened his eyes and sees a hooded figure facing away from him.

"I was like 'Hey, dude. Who are you?' and he turned around and started yelling 'Get the F on the floor or I’m going to slice your throat,'" Riley said.

With a knife in Garcia’s hand, Riley said he wasn't taking any chances. He voluntarily demonstrated for us exactly what he did, scrambling out of bed and huddling in the corner of his room.

"There were two things I was thinking: don't piss your pants and f****** don’t get killed," he said.

Riley said Paul Garcia was stuffing all sorts of things into a backpack before running out the door. However, Riley stayed close behind.

"He started chunking big ass rocks at me right here in the middle of our road," he said.

APD was waved down, but not before Garcia ran into a school near Riley's home with his belongings, wallet, checks, even an ax. But Garcia ended up overlooking the weapon that would eventually bring take him down. Now bent and damaged, Riley hit Garcia twice with his baton.

"I wound up for another crack and he swiped his ... what we thought was like a knife in his hand. He swiped it to the left and got me right in the eyebrow," said Riley.

With a few noticeable cuts just above his eye, he said police were there ready to arrest him. Garcia was in court Tuesday. The state filed a preventative detention motion, which means he will be held in jail without bond until a hearing in district court.